Rose overcomes ulcers to lead Bulls to 99-90 victory

Guard scores 22 while Deng has 26 to beat back Magic

Derrick Rose goes in for a layup in the second half. (Chris Sweda, Chicago Tribune)

There are certain moments in any successful season that transcend the norm and offer glimpses as to what might be.

Friday night at the United Center offered one such moment.

With Derrick Rose grimacing through his two stomach ulcers and the sellout crowd in full playoff throat, the Bulls gritted out a 99-90 victory over the Magic, their fourth straight and seventh in eight games.

That it avenged a 29-point loss — the Bulls' worst this season — mattered less than this: The Magic are one of the teams the Bulls have to get past to get to where they want to go.

Luol Deng's 26 points led the Bulls, who remained tied with the Heat for the conference's second-best record, 2 1/2 games ahead of the Magic.

"This one means more," Deng said in reference to avenging previous loss. "They beat us up pretty good last time. The Bostons, Orlandos, Miamis, when we beat those teams, we send a message out there that we have a really good team."

Dwight Howard led the Magic with a season-high 40 points to go with 15 rebounds.

No points were bigger than Deng's pump-fake and layup with 1 minute, 22 seconds left after the Magic had pulled to within 93-90. Deng then followed with a steal of a Gilbert Arenas pass that led to two Rose free throws to seal matters.

The Magic, typically proficient from beyond the arc, made just 5 of 21 3-pointers.

"They were really up on us at the 3-point line," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "They played a lot harder than we did."

The Bulls trailed 51-46 at halftime but came out aggressive to start the third quarter, particularly Deng. He had attempted just two first-half shots but scored 11 points in the first four minutes and finished with 14 in the quarter.

The Bulls used a 15-2 run to seize control and outscored the Magic 34-17 in the period, during which the Magic announced Jameer Nelson, who played just 7:34, wouldn't return with a sore right knee.

Rose took his decision to play right up to pregame warm-ups and clearly labored through pain throughout, admitting he tried to avoid contact.

"It's definitely painful," Rose said. "It gets to the point where you don't want to eat or drink anything because the pain is steady."

Rose estimated he lost six or seven pounds from his typical playing weight of 213 pounds and hadn't consumed a full meal in three days. He is on liquid medication and mostly consuming shakes and smoothies.

Rose also admitted the ulcers were caused not only by his diet of spicy foods but also anti-inflammatory medication. Just think of how nauseous opposing defenses are with Rose dropping a double-double at less than full strength.

"To be a great player you have to play through things," Rose said. "I look at myself as an old-school player. Back then, players would play through stuff way worse than mine. So I should be fine."